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Last modified: 2022-03-11 by ivan sache
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Municipal flag of Rostrenen - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 3 July 2005
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The municipality of Rostrenen (3,059 inhabitants in 2018; 3,217 ha; municipal website) located 20 km east of Carhaix-Plouguer, is
the capital of Pays Fisel. A fisel, probably cognate with the
French word ficelle (string), is a lace holding a hat, part of the
specific costume of the region of Rostrenen, therefore named Pays
Fisel. By extension, the local gavotte was named Fisel dance (in
Breton, dañs Fisel). The genuine dañs Fisel is performed in 16
municipalities (or parts of them) located east of Carhaix; west of
Carhaix, it is replaced by the mountains' gavotte, aka
Carhaix-Poullaouen gavotte. Like Carhaix, Rostrenen is a main center of
Breton traditional culture, music and dance.
The name of the town is made of the two Breton words roz, "a hill", and
draenen, "thorns".
Rostrenen developed around the castle built on the Miniou hill (263 m a.s.l.).
In the 7th century, a local lord built a wooden fortress near a pond.
A stone keep, surrounded by walls, was built near the pond in the
11th century by the Barons of Rostrenen. The Barony of Rostrenen,
depending on the Seneschalry of Carhaix, existed until the French
Revolution. The Barons of Rostrenen were very important Breton lords:
Riwalon was appointed Seneschal of Brittany in 1068; Geoffroy took part
to the Seventh Crusade with King of France Saint-Louis at the end of the
13th century; Pierre VI was a brother in arms of Constable Duguesclin
at the end of the 14th century, and Pierre VIII, Lieutenant of the
Armies, helped Joan of Arc to drive the English out of France.
At the end of the 16th century, Toussaint de Beaumanoir, mestre de
camp of the Royal armies, built a new fortress near the pond of
Rostrenen. Its walls were said to be 18-foot thick. During the revolt
of the nobles against the royal power known as the League, the Duke de
Mercoeur besieged four times the castle in 1592-1594. The castle was
eventually seized, looted and burnt down. In 1601, King Henry IV
ordered the complete suppression of the castle and its fortifications,
which then belonged to Hélène, Toussaint's daughter.
The castle of Rostrenen was rebuilt in the 18th century by the Duchess
of Elbeuf, Baroness of Rostrenen. After the Revolution, it was used as a prison and a gendarmerie. During the building of the Canal from
Nantes to Brest, the castle was used as an hospital for the convicts(indeed political prisoneers) housed in Glomel. The castle was eventually used as a school.
In December 1300, the inhabitants of Rostrenen noticed a rosebush with
leaves and flowers. A statue of the Blessed Virgin was found near the
bush. The miraculous statue was solemnly transfered to the chapel of
the castle, since there was no church in the village. There were other
miracles, especially in the beginning of December. The finding of the
statue was celebrated by a pardon (traditional Breton religious
festival) and the bod (bush) fair. The chapel of the castle was
replaced by the Notre-Dame church in the first half of the 14th
century. Its spire, considered as one of the nicest in Cornouaille,
was suppressed in 1649 because it was about to fall down. In
1483, Baron Pierre IX obtained from Pope Sixtus IV the erection of the
church to a collegiate church. One of the four original bells
preserved during the Revolution is inscribed faite en may, l'an
1604, passée par feu et flambe. Le nom de Dieu, je loue, je chante
(made in May 1604 through fire and flames. I shall praise and sing the
name of God). The church windows of the choir, made in 1867 by Gilbert,
recall the miracles: an inhabitant of Glomel, miller Rivoal caught in
the wheel of his mill; an inhabitant of Bonen, left paralyzed after a
bad fall on the market of Callac; Louise Logeat and another men fallen
dawn into a well, were saved after the invocation of the statue.
The pardon of Rostrenen was transfered to mid-August but the bod fair
is still celebrated on the first Tuesday of December. At the end of the
18th century, the bod fair was a magnificent celebration: the
parishioners dressed as the characters of the Bible and of the ancient
medieval mysteries. An ingenious mechanism allowed an angel to fly down
from the spire with a torch and to light a bonfire. In 1696, Loyer,
Dean of the collegiate church, built a fountain near the miraculous
bush; the water of the fountain was of course also a miracle cure.
Rostrenen is the birth town of the painter Olivier Perrin (1761-1832). Perrin studied in Rennes and Paris and came back to Brittany, teaching painting in Quimper. He worked for several Breton churches, his most famous work being the Breton Gallery, a series of drawings depicting the life of a Breton farmer from birth to death. In 1820, he offered his painting "The Blessed Virgin's Assumption" to the church of his birth town.
Ivan Sache, 3 July 2005
The flag of Rostrenen (photo, photo, photo, photos), designed by Philippe Rault (photo), is white with a semy of black ermine spots and three horizontal red stripes. The flag is a banner of the municipal arms, "Ermine three fesses gules", which were the arms of the Barony of Rosporden, first recorded in 1279.
The legend says that during a battle against the Norsemen, the lord of Rostrenen
was wounded when helping the Duke of Brittany. He put his bloody hand
on his chest (or his shield, depending on the versions of the legend).
The blood formed three red stripes and the Duke said: "Rostrenen, this
shall be your arms."
Similar legends "explain" the origin of the arms of
Austria, Aragon and Catalonia. The arms of the Barony of Rostrenen can
be seen on a stone used today in the facade of the municipal Multimedia
Center, most probably reused from the St. Barbara's chapel.
Hervé Prat, Arnaud Leroy & Ivan Sache, 3 July 2005
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